Here is a picture of the inside of their mall or super walmart? It's this big store containing many stores within it, without doors or partitions to section off the individual stores. There are three floors to this one mall/store. We call it the Jusco. All your shopping needs in one place. You can move in and out of the "stores" with your merchandise, but you must pay at the certain register for that particular "store" item. For instance, we thought that it was all one continuous store, so we grabbed some groceries (which was some good guessing, as all the labeling were in Japanese) and some household goods from another section of the store. When we brought it all to the counter the pay for it, the clerk took only what pertained to her particular department and motioned for us to pay for the rest at that part of the store! You know, like you can only pay for the jewelry in the jewelry dept of Walmart and then the rest at any other counter; only here, you must pay for each thing at it's particular part of the store. So I guess these are stores within a store. There's a 100 yen store here too, it's their $1 store. Though for us with our dwindling currency, our $1 is only worth .90 to them! I am reminded that I am in another country once again. We must check the worth of the dollar before going out to shop in town, and when the yen is up to par with the dollar, that's when you pull out what cash/yen you can spare. When the dollar drops to the yen, then the yen you already have in your possession, is dollar for dollar. This is when the ATM machines are being used to their greatest potential!
The boys were just excited to be with DAD! This was taken on day one of our life in Okinawa! The boys were living on adenaline and I was living on man-made adrenaline! Jason wouldn't let me go to sleep, I was really feeling the jet lag! We arrived into Okinawa at 9pm on friday and went to bed shortly thereafter. I awoke at 4am Okinawa time, which felt like noon my time and that I had been in the bed WAY too long. When I realized the time, I tried to stay in bed a little longer, but soon got up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am. By noon Okinawa time, I was ready for bed! Jason said that if I took the nap that I so desperately wanted, that I would sleep for hours and it wouldn't help resetting my body clock! So, he loaded me up on coffee and his body building/energy drink to keep me going. My mind was awake, but my body was dragging and I felt sick. By day four, I was up and going and feeling 99%. I have been here two weeks and a day and am feeling just fine. It takes a lot outa you! The boys have adjusted very well, though without their toys and friends, they get bored quickly. We have done well in getting out, sightseeing and exploring the island as a family.
We've been able to take in the scenery quite slowly. . . . at about 30 miles per hour at the max. Though small the island may be, it's population is 1.15 million and most people have cars! You will never here a horn honked in anger or impatience and I haven't seen any road rage thus far. In fact, everyone is polite and even if you accidently cut them off or they cut you off, there is no exchange of words, horns or gestures. For the first week, Jason would look at me trying to figure out what was so funny. I just thought it funny to see people driving on the wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road! You would see a car coming your way and what would appear to be the driver to us Americans, would be just looking out the window as if oblivious to those in front of him/her; when in fact, they weren't the driver, but the passenger! Then the signage, that takes a little getting used to. I know how a foreigner in America feels when they see our signage and ads and not being able to use a coupon because you don't know what it's good for or what kind of discount you're actually getting! Thankfully, in this society, the people are very service oriented and are more than willing to do the whole charades thing with you!
Here is a picture of the inside of their mall or super walmart? It's this big store containing many stores within it, without doors or partitions to section off the individual stores. There are three floors to this one mall/store. We call it the Jusco. All your shopping needs in one place. You can move in and out of the "stores" with your merchandise, but you must pay at the certain register for that particular "store" item. For instance, we thought that it was all one continuous store, so we grabbed some groceries (which was some good guessing, as all the labeling were in Japanese) and some household goods from another section of the store. When we brought it all to the counter the pay for it, the clerk took only what pertained to her particular department and motioned for us to pay for the rest at that part of the store! You know, like you can only pay for the jewelry in the jewelry dept of Walmart and then the rest at any other counter; only here, you must pay for each thing at it's particular part of the store. So I guess these are stores within a store. There's a 100 yen store here too, it's their $1 store. Though for us with our dwindling currency, our $1 is only worth .90 to them! I am reminded that I am in another country once again. We must check the worth of the dollar before going out to shop in town, and when the yen is up to par with the dollar, that's when you pull out what cash/yen you can spare. When the dollar drops to the yen, then the yen you already have in your possession, is dollar for dollar. This is when the ATM machines are being used to their greatest potential!
The boys were just excited to be with DAD! This was taken on day one of our life in Okinawa! The boys were living on adenaline and I was living on man-made adrenaline! Jason wouldn't let me go to sleep, I was really feeling the jet lag! We arrived into Okinawa at 9pm on friday and went to bed shortly thereafter. I awoke at 4am Okinawa time, which felt like noon my time and that I had been in the bed WAY too long. When I realized the time, I tried to stay in bed a little longer, but soon got up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am. By noon Okinawa time, I was ready for bed! Jason said that if I took the nap that I so desperately wanted, that I would sleep for hours and it wouldn't help resetting my body clock! So, he loaded me up on coffee and his body building/energy drink to keep me going. My mind was awake, but my body was dragging and I felt sick. By day four, I was up and going and feeling 99%. I have been here two weeks and a day and am feeling just fine. It takes a lot outa you! The boys have adjusted very well, though without their toys and friends, they get bored quickly. We have done well in getting out, sightseeing and exploring the island as a family.
We've been able to take in the scenery quite slowly. . . . at about 30 miles per hour at the max. Though small the island may be, it's population is 1.15 million and most people have cars! You will never here a horn honked in anger or impatience and I haven't seen any road rage thus far. In fact, everyone is polite and even if you accidently cut them off or they cut you off, there is no exchange of words, horns or gestures. For the first week, Jason would look at me trying to figure out what was so funny. I just thought it funny to see people driving on the wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road! You would see a car coming your way and what would appear to be the driver to us Americans, would be just looking out the window as if oblivious to those in front of him/her; when in fact, they weren't the driver, but the passenger! Then the signage, that takes a little getting used to. I know how a foreigner in America feels when they see our signage and ads and not being able to use a coupon because you don't know what it's good for or what kind of discount you're actually getting! Thankfully, in this society, the people are very service oriented and are more than willing to do the whole charades thing with you!
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